Getting Around Waterloo Region By Bicycle

Renewed in the New Year

I’ve been slightly guilty of letting my bike be lonely while I drive the family car to work in the past two weeks.

I got a ride home last Thursday when it was snowing, then a ride back on the bus Friday. That afternoon, I was too wiped to bike so I got a ride home again. Then my wife offered the car on Monday and a took her up on that.

But it’s only because the opportunity that I’ve been off-bike. I really feel great since holidays about riding. The weather has been cold but dry and bright so that really helps.

My new cargo conveyances

Plus I scored these awesome pannier bags for Christmas and they’ve made biking with a load into a dream. Before my automobile debauchery I had been transporting heavy books back and forth to work in addition to my work clothes. A feat unheard of when I was ‘with-backpack’.

Good weather, new gear, and I’ve finally given up hope that bike lanes will ever be cleared in Waterloo. After a brief thaw, snow is once again settling in our bike lanes for a long winters nap. It is apparently beyond the pale that they will be cleared by any force other than nature. And I want to be honest, I’m not going to engage and try to change anyone’s mind. I’ve always had this crazy aversion to bashing my head into vertical brick surfaces too.

I’m back on the bike since Monday. It’s been great. I’m turning my commute into a miniature adventure race. Straightening the curves and flattening the hills.